Roadside memorials urged for animals killed in crashes

PETA seeks roadside marker for crashes that killed cows

December 26, 2011|Jon Hilkevitch's Getting Around

Tracy Patton, a campaigner for PETA, shows the sign the organization hopes the state will post in Hazel Crest.. (Zbigniew Bzdak, Chicago Tribune)

It was a gruesome accident May 22: A truck driver lost control and his rig carrying 36 cows partially tipped over on an overpass along Interstate Highway 80 near Hazel Crest, sending some of the animals plunging about 25 feet onto Interstate Highway 294.

The death toll totaled 16 head of cattle, including one badly injured animal that police shot to end its suffering.

An animal-rights group now wants the Illinois Department of Transportation to erect an official roadside memorial sign. It would serve as a tribute to the victims, according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which also seeks installation of a second memorial to six cows killed in traffic after they were thrown from a truck that overturned on Oct. 14 near Cambridge, Ill.

"Cows are intelligent, sensitive animals that feel pain the same way we do," said Tracy Patton, a campaigner for PETA.

The markers would be the first official highway memorials in the U.S. dedicated to animals killed in traffic accidents. Two previous applications submitted in Virginia, to honor almost 200 pigs killed in traffic wrecks, were turned down.

"These proposed signs would also remind tractor-trailer drivers of their responsibility to the thousands of animals they haul to their deaths every day," said Patton, 26, who lives in Arlington Heights. "It's a big enough tragedy that these animals end up in slaughterhouses, where they are kicked, shocked with electric prods and finally dragged off the trucks to their deaths. Sparing them from being tossed from a speeding truck and deprived of care afterward, sometimes for several hours, seems the least that we can do."

A state law passed in 2007 allows the family members of victims killed in drunken-driving accidents to request that IDOT install memorial signs along Illinois highways. It's called "Tina's Law" to honor Tina Ball, a road construction worker and mother of seven who was killed by a drunk driver while she was working on Interstate Highway 57 on Sept. 15, 2003.

Seven applications have been submitted, and five signs installed so far, officials said.

The law was amended this year to allow memorials for any highway fatality, not just DUIs.

"The law was expanded this year partly to discourage the practice of unofficial roadway memorials, such as crosses, stuffed animals and flowers, all of which can be a distraction to drivers," IDOT spokesman Guy Tridgell said.

IDOT removes unofficial memorials placed along state routes. It's up to local jurisdictions whether to take down unofficial memorials outside the state-designated right of way, officials said.

The official IDOT memorial markers are 36-by-24-inch blue signs with white lettering. People requesting a sign are required to pay a fee.

The state law governing the memorial markers says that the signs can be requested only by a "qualified relative of a deceased victim."

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In her applications, Patton asked IDOT to waive the "qualified relative" requirement, citing in an accompanying letter to the state's roadside memorial coordinator the absence of "surviving family members for animals in the meat trade." She applied as a "concerned Illinois resident in lieu of living relatives."

Patton said PETA is awaiting a response to its application from IDOT.

But Tridgell told your "Getting Around" reporter that, while this marked the first request for an official roadway memorial on behalf of animals, the law is clear, and the application will be denied.

"The application must be submitted by qualified relatives," he said.

Asked whether a family could officially honor a family pet that died in a traffic accident on a state roadway, Tridgell said, "No, it would be precluded. This is strictly for deceased people."

"These animals died in horrific, tragic accidents. But we have to draw a line with a program like this," he said.

Neither the state nor the federal government tracks the number of traffic accidents involving animal transports. A group called the Farm Sanctuary in 2006 surveyed news media stories on transportation accidents involving animals raised for food. It found 233 accidents, involving at least 27,000 animal deaths, over a six-year period.